Cold call kings behind millions of nuisance calls are getting away with it because the Government has refused to hold them personally liable, the departing Information Commissioner has told The Telegraph.

Christopher Graham, in his final interview before stepping down, said he had repeatedly pressed ministers to give him the power to pursue the directors of cold-calling companies – but his pleas had been ignored.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is able to fine rogue companies for making illegal nuisance calls. However, the individuals behind the businesses are immune from prosecution, leaving them free to wind up one company and start another.

In one glaring example, Reactiv Media, a company fined £75,000, was shut down but its owner, Tony Abbott, has opened another in its place.

A Telegraph investigation also discovered that 15 out of 20 companies penalised by the ICO for nuisance calls have gone bust or declared themselves insolvent to avoid the fine.

Mr Graham, who has headed the ICO for seven years, said: “The Information Commissioner needs increased powers. There should be personal liability for directors of companies so they cannot just shrug their shoulders and close down and then open up as something else. We need more effective action

“It is very frustrating. We impose these fines and it’s the devil’s own work to collect the money.”

It’s a bit like painting the Forth Road bridge but it’s important we keep at them disrupting their business.Christopher Graham

Mr Graham, who has headed up the ICO for seven years, added: “I have been pressing to pursue the directors. We want to go after their assets. Here we have a real problem of fly-by-night operators who close down and open up again with a slightly different name and operation.

“It’s a bit like painting the Forth Road bridge but it’s important we keep at them disrupting their business.”

He said the ICO had been instrumental in changing the law to make it easier to fine cold-calling companies breaking the rules.

Total fines had risen from £360,000 in the year to April 2015 to more than £2 million in the following 12 months.

He said the ICO was “currently actively pursuing nine companies that have gone into liquidation” after being fined.

Mr Graham added: “We are using specialist insolvency practitioners to help us trace the money. But it is certainly a problem.

“We will just keeping on going. We realise it is going to be a long process but I have been pressing ministers to look at the personal liability for company directors for a company’s debts.”

He said one of the great surprises during his tenure was “to find cold calling was being driven by some very worthy charities”, adding: “We had work to do to bring everybody back in line. That work is ongoing and our investigations are ongoing”.

Elizabeth Denham, a Canadian who led a high-profile privacy investigation into Facebook, will take over as Information Commissioner later this month.